10 Questions with Luisa Vicente Isola

Luisa Vicente Isola was born in Salta province of Argentina on October 21, 1971. Her childhood was spent in the city of Medan - Salta.
She attended her primary and secondary schools in the same city. In 1989, she moved with her family to the city of Salta, studying architecture and urban planning at the Catholic University of Salta and later receiving the title of architect. She developed her career as an architect at the Ministry of Government of the province of Salta for 11 years.
At the same time, together with other colleagues, she formed a private architecture studio, doing project work, direction, and execution for nine years. Since 2011 she has been completely dedicated to plastic art, holding exhibitions in the local and international institutions.

www.arte-digital.art | @luisavicenteisola

ARTIST STATEMENT

“Since its inception, my work has been an introspection tool that has allowed me to navigate between my emotions, obsessions, and internal conflicts. I have always felt that each work of art offers me an opportunity to have a much broader and deeper vision of my process of personal, emotional, and spiritual evolution.

Therefore, in my artistic work, I have tried to create metaphorical images of emotional states that have allowed me to speak of realities as certain as intangible, images that invite to be examined through a deeply emotional contemplation, that position the viewer in front of their own reality. They invite you to connect through them with your own self, allowing you to have another perception of it, another way of understanding and modifying it—word and fundamental experience that sustains all this visual adventure.

Like what is not seen when looking, or what is not said when speaking, all those silences are contained in a symphony. This work is an intimate and very personal attempt to flesh out the ghosts that rule personal relationships. The use of behavioral art supposes the location of the art in social behavior as an artistic language and in its capacity as a generator of meanings.
An essay of images charged with mystery and tension that present a detained and disturbing drama, in which every detail acts as an instant of elongated dreams, and in which timeless figures are like wounds of memory.” - Luisa Vicente Isola

INTERVIEW

First of all, why are you an artist, and how did you decide to become one?

My experimentation with textiles, with which I later built garments, was the first approach. Since its inception, my work has been a tool for introspection that has allowed me to navigate between my emotions and my conflicts. I always felt that each work of art offered the opportunity to have a much broader and deeper vision of my personal life processes, and emotional and spiritual evolution.

You come from an architectural background, and you have worked as an architect for a long time before turning to art. Does your architectural background influence your work nowadays, and how?

First, I invent, reason, and imagine, that is to say, fully live the work. Then I transmit my emotions and capture them to communicate what was lived and felt. Finally, I achieve that in the observer so that empathy is born towards the work.
Of course, architecture has influenced my way of expressing myself through art, especially in the way of conceiving spaces, shapes, volumes, perspectives, lights, and shadows. One of the purposes of architecture is to honor beauty through utility, a characteristic that turns it into art. The difference between these disciplines is that architecture is versatile and functional, while art communicates the feelings of the artist.

What is your personal aim as an artist?

The personality or mind governs us and manifests itself through my works. Some components of personality are past experiences, images, emotions, feelings, education, age, geographical location, climate, and technology, and they manifest themselves either consciously or unconsciously. These characteristics distinguish us from others. And it is what nourishes each work of mine, each one with a different character.

Where do you get inspiration for your works? Do you take inspiration from fictional works, like music or literature, or do you look more at your everyday life?

The personality or mind governs me and manifests itself through my works. So I can say that I am inspired by the world around me that is changing. It is never static.

What is your creative process like? And how did you evolve this way of working?

I use a program for graphic designers, which allows me to try and expand according to the ideas of the moment. The material I am adapting is the digital medium. I don't have a line of work, and I try a different way of working every time. Everything revolves around what I want to transmit. I always try to discover new possibilities. Each artist looks for inspiration in some things that go unnoticed by others or are not stimulating. To maintain artistic inspiration, I maintain the stimulus, fall in love with what I do, and always try new techniques while improving the ones I already handle. Also, you can't stop learning. There are always things that can enrich my work in the future, and that will be reflected in the works.

What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

In any discipline, it's important to have a solid foundation from which to grow. The elements of art are concrete visual components that work in conjunction with the artistic principles that organize and harmonize them, such as line, color, figure, shape, space, and texture. I work first with a general one, polishing it until the emotion, movement, and energy I want to give appear. I give special attention to lights and shadows.

Is there a piece you consider a "breakthrough" in your career?

I try to advance in each new work, with different techniques and ideas, so I like the result. However, until I create a new one, I am very self-critical, so many works do not pass "quality control" and are saved.

You work with digital art. Why did you choose this medium? And is there anything else you would like to experiment with?

I started designing garments with autochthonous textiles spun on a loom with sheep's wool, something different for the eyes and the senses. Then I continued with acrylic on canvas, which allowed me a greater expression tool. Finally, I learned in a self-taught way to handle graphic design and drawing programs, which gave me an unimagined breadth and without limits, which are given in a box of the canvas. In fact, I have tried to dematerialize this "barrier" that limits the imagination. The digital medium has turned out to be a powerful tool for an artist. It provides a clean workspace with the freedom to make mistakes, and a computer is an art tool in itself.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

Currently, my work is exhibited in Artellite (London) and at Pro Cultura Salta (Argentina). In the near future, I plan to make sculptures and design and sell women's clothing online with native fabrics.

And lastly, what advice would you give to an emerging artist?

I expect the artist to take charge of exploring this common sense in the aesthetic field. Art can be applied and facilitate the specific intention to affirm human existence. But in any case, it is a technique to generate and present the aesthetic. I would tell them not to give up, and always look forward.

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